New Pan-African Film Fund Launched In Tunisia To Develop Cinema In Continental Africa

Lucman, 3, in the projection room at one of the open-air theaters on the periphery of Ouagadougou.

Titled The Pan-African Film and Audiovisual Fund, the new initiative held its first meeting in Tunisia, earlier this month, where Tunisian filmmaker Férid Boughdir, was announced as the fund's president, reports Tunisian news outlet TAP (translated from French).

The newly-formed non-profit international funding organization has been established to work to develop cinema in Africa, in short. It'll be funded via both public and private donations from the more economically affluent African countries, primarily in the north and south, TAP states, without providing further information.

The organization's headquarters are to be at the Abdellia Palace in La Marsa, whose operating costs will be funded by Tunisia minister of culture Mehdi Mabrouk, although founding members intend to set up other offices throughout continental Africa, starting with Dakar, Senegal.

The fund's commissions of experts will meet to allocate funding and expertise to African countries wishing to develop appropriate mechanisms to ensure their cinematic production becomes viable locally and regionally.

This is just one of several efforts we've profiled in recent years, within the continent, whose intent is to help build or bolster local film industries, as well as produce works of cinema that can compete in the international marketplace.

I'm looking further into this new initiative, so when I have more information, as always, I'll share here, so stay tuned...